S I N G
by WeHoldTheseTruths
Summary: We're all just trying to figure out who we are, and what we're meant to do with our lives. They're no different. It just so happens, they aren't exactly human either. AU
1. Chapter 1

Man, it's been awhile. But I'm here, with an idea I've been messing with for quite some time. So I present to you an AU set in modern day Tokyo. Enjoy my lovelies.

* * *

_Kishi Taisei_

_Wake from death and return to life_

_-Japanese Proverb _

S I N G

By

WeHoldTheseTruths

* * *

"Did you hear? He's done it for good this time, the teachers are saying he's going to get expelled!"

"I heard he sent Takashi and his friend to the hospital. There's no way they'll let him off this time."

"He's just trash, I don't get why they didn't kick him out sooner."

"Good riddance. We'll finally be able to live in peace."

The whispers travelled along the hallway as the young man made his way toward the door. He'd heard enough rumors to know the general consensus. People hated him. People feared him. People misunderstood him. At least, that's how he felt. Because of his blonde hair and blue eyes, people isolated him. Upper classmen would harass him for standing out too much. People would automatically assume that he was a Yankee and pick fights. No one should blame him for defending himself. But they did, and this time the fighting had gone too far. But, what could he have done? Takashi had whipped out a switch blade and actually cut him. After seeing his blood, his body went into autopilot and the rest of the memory went blank. When he came out of his trance, Takashi and his friend were on the ground unmoving, and the cut was already healed.

He couldn't say that was the weirdest thing that had ever happened to him though. It wasn't. In fact, weird things were happening all the time and he'd just learned to accept them as a fact of life. So, when he'd tried to explain what happened to the teachers, he wasn't surprised that none of them believed him. And he wasn't surprised that they were going to expel him. Sometimes he just wanted to be normal. To have a normal school life, to live with a normal family, to just be a regular kid; those were his greatest wishes in life. As he slipped on his outdoor shoes he felt a slight vibration rom his pocket. Curious, he dug through it and flipped open his phone. There was only one new message on the screen, and it wasn't from his guardian.

_Do you want to change your fate?_

* * *

"SHIKAMARU, WILL YOU GET YOUR LAZY ASS OUT OF BED AND GO TO SCHOOL ALREADY?" His mother yelled from the bottom of the stairs.

It was the daily routine. He'd hit the snooze button four or five times before ultimately turning off the alarm and just wait for his mother to yell at him to get up. Grudgingly, he groaned and rolled over, hitting the floor hard. He'd been closer to the edge than he anticipated.

"SO HELP ME I WILL DRAG YOU OUT OF THERE MYSELF," she continued to yell. He let out a sigh. "DON'T YOU SIGH AT ME YOUNG MAN; I'LL GIVE YOU SOMETHING TO REALLY SIGH ABOUT IF YOU DON'T GET DOWN HERE."

His mother was never a patient woman. So he sighs again (silently because he knows his mother will somehow hear him) and opens his dresser, pulling out a clean undershirt before going into his bathroom to change. Ten minutes later he's heading down the stairs back. His mother standing by the door with his lunch and some toast, "Here, you're going to be late." She shoves the food into his hands and kisses him on the cheek. He just accepts it and mumbles his goodbyes, praying no one saw.

His everyday life was the same. It wasn't that he hated it, in fact he liked the predictability his life offered, but he knew deep down his longed for something more. He wanted adventure and excitement or at least some part of him did. But he was just too damn lazy to do anything about it. He wolfed down the piece of toast as he walked toward his university. Lecture was always so boring. What good was it to sit in a classroom and listen to some old bag drone on and on about international economics?

Deciding he might as well take a short cut, he turned down a dark alley that connected two major streets. He often took this way when he wanted to avoid the morning rush.

"Hand over your money kid," a gruff voice wheezed behind him. The young man turned to face two hooded thugs, one holding a metal pipe and the other with a switch blade out. "Do it, if you know what's good for you." The thug added.

Shikamaru let out a long sigh. He always feared this might happen one day. Now, he wasn't helpless by any means. He could take care of himself if he needed to, but it was a pain. "Troublesome," he muttered under his breath.

"What was that punk?" the pipe wielding thug growled and took a step forward.

Instantly, he tensed, ready for the attack he knew would be coming. The fools probably thought they had an advantage. His mind was already racing a mile a minute, taking in all the details of the area around him.

"Over here officer!" a voice yelled. "Someone's trying to mug him!"

"Shit," the knife thug cursed. "We're out of here."

The two ran off, without sparing him so much as a second look. The young man let out another sigh, his body relaxing and returning to its previous state. He resumed his walk, shouting some thanks to the Good Samaritan who'd saved him. As he emerged onto the other side of the street, he felt his pocket vibrate.

_Are you satisfied?_

* * *

The young woman tucked her hair into the cap and pushed her glass up the bridge of her nose. One brief glance in the mirror told her that she was good to go. Another day of being invisible, another day of hell. But, being invisible was better than standing out in her opinion. She'd learned early on that people could be so cruel and judgmental. She would rather fade into the background than have people stare at her and whisper behind her back.

Out of habit she called out her goodbyes, before reminding herself that she was no longer living in her parent's home. She'd moved to the city a year ago in fate hopes that she might fit in better. But the first week had been a disaster, and she went back to being who she was before the move.

As she walked down the stairs and toward the train station, she wondered why people cared so much about looks. In the end, everyone would grow old and their looks would change. They wouldn't be young forever. Though, she considered, it made sense for people to be vain now while they had the chance. It was a short fifteen minute walk before she got the terminal. She swiped her pass and waited in line with everyone else. She faintly heard the ping of the feminine voice over the loud speakers, the train was approaching. She was so caught up in her thoughts she didn't realize she was moving along the crowd until she was forced to grab onto one of the handles as the voice announced the train's departure. Everything was going as it usually did. Until the train jerked to a sudden stop.

"_We're experiencing a minor technical difficulty now; we thank you for your patience."_

As the announcement sounded, the young women had been pushed and lurched forward. In addition to her strange outer appearance, she was unbelievably clumsy to boot. She tripped and fell, not noticing her hat and glasses and slipped off of her.

"I'm so sorry," an apologetic voice said as he rushed to help her up. "I wasn't paying attention and-" he paused as he caught sight of her. "Whoa. Is that your real hair?"

The girl's hands flew up to her head and she realized her hat and fallen. One hand flew to her face, in search of her glasses, but those were gone as well. She scrambled to find them, but she was already attracting attention as it was. The whole car was looking at her now and whispering.

"Here," the same man said, handing her the lost items. "Your eyes are amazing as well." He commented.

The girl said nothing, hating the feeling she was getting. She felt like she was under a microscope. Immediately, the train started moving again and everyone took their places once more. But, she could still feel the people around her staring, chattering even after she'd put her hat and glasses back on. It was an agonizing fifteen minutes before she was finally allowed out of the train. She pushed her way through and ran to the bathroom, locking herself in a stall so she could just calm down before heading into work. She stared at her shaking hands and took several deeps breaths before she heard her phone's delicate dinging from her purse. She pulled in out and stared at the screen in confusion. And address she didn't know.

_What are you ashamed of?  
_

* * *

"Seriously, you're exactly as they said!" a young woman hissed. "Go to hell!" a resounding slap echoed in the hallway, quickly followed by the swift clicking of heels.

A young man sighed as he rubbed his sore cheek. Another one bites the dust, he decided. Oh well, there were always plenty of other fish in the sea. He shrugged and waited a couple more minutes before heading back out. He really hated it when girls confronted him at school. It meant his friends would see and tease him for yet another failed relationship. He usually played it off quite well. Always saying there was another girl. Flirting, talking, dating, messaging, all of those things were just a part of the game. Though, if he had to be honest, then he would admit he was just doing it to find 'the one'. His idiot father had run out on his family, and ever since then he had to admit he was kind of afraid of commitment. I mean, look at it this way: if you can't commit to your family how can you commit to anyone else, let alone your soul mate?

So he hopped from girl to girl, looking for the legendary feeling of falling in love. And every time he'd jumped into a relationship, he failed to find it. So, in the end he'd get bored and move on. He knew it was wrong, he knew he was hurting other people, but loyalty in a relationship was never his strong suit. Hell, he'd go so far to say it was in his blood. But, that wasn't a good enough excuse. So, he ended up in these situations quite often and many times with multiple girls.

"I'm surprised you're still finding people to date," one of his few girlfriends (as in platonic relationship) commented. "I thought all of Tokyo would know about you by now."

"Shut up," he halfheartedly sighed. He couldn't help but feel a little drained. That last girl was so demanding it exhausted him to no end. To be honest, he was a bit relieved that she dumped him.

It was the end of the day, a precious day off from school already past, when he was walking back to his apartment. The street was a rare quiet and serene, and it was just nice to relish in the night time sounds. Crickets chirping, dull chattering from the houses around him, cats meowing in the night, the occasional dog barking. Overall (despite the getting slapped thing) it was a good day and he was looking forward to going to bed.

"Oi," a gruff voice called out to him from behind.

The young man turned and found the girl who'd dumped him earlier, surrounded by a bunch of guys. She smiled smugly. "You're going to get what you deserve asshole."

He inwardly groaned. He should have never taken her back to his place. Now he had to move so she wouldn't be able to find him again. To a normal bystander, it was surprising that he wasn't more worried. He was outnumbered five to one and he was most concerned about the girl following him home. The fight passed in a blur. Really, even if it was five guys they were nothing. Weak, he'd decided. Just boys trying to prove themselves. He watched as they scrambled up and ran away, leaving the girl screaming in frustration. He turned to walk home, already slightly annoyed that his favorite jacket got dirty. The girl was still screaming at him, swearing up and down that she would get him back for humiliating her. And he continued to ignore her. The familiar ringtone signaled that he had a message. He wondered if it was from one of his friends asking him to a gokon.

_Do you want to find your place?_

* * *

She shouldn't care, she thought as she dragged herself into the locker room. She shouldn't care that she was the only girl in the club, nor should she care that she was getting picked on. Actually, she shouldn't care about anything that they said because she actually liked what she was doing and all of those jerks could go fall off a bridge and die for all she cared. Okay, she took back the dying part, because that was really harsh.

She took a deep breath and exhaled. It was another rough day of practice. The boys were always unnecessarily rough to her whenever there was sparring matches. It's like they had something to prove or whatever. She was just one little girl, really she should be treated like a princess or something. She let out a snort, yeah right, princess. She was far from being a princess. She preferred cargo pants and jeans to skirts and frilly dresses. Her hair was forever up; never down because it got in the way, but at the same time she was just too damn lazy to cut it. She hardly ever wore make up (not that she didn't know how, she just hated the feeling of it on her face) and she hardly ever did anything that was even considered close to feminine. No, she preferred martial arts. She preferred judo, kendo, archery, and aikido. She would much rather be slamming against mats than sitting seiza performing tea ceremonies (she also knew how to do this, but really hated the formality of it).

She finished changing and quickly exited the dojo. She didn't want to run into any of her club mates who were sure to make fun of her even more than they already had today. The young woman plotted her course home, mentally noting she needed to stop at the market because her mother asked her to pick up some soy sauce and eggs. It wasn't long before her errands were done and she was walking up the steps into the family dojo grounds.

"I'm home," she called. She could hear her brother laughing from the family room.

"Welcome back!" a chorus of deep voices chanted.

"Oh, good you're back!" her mother greeted her at the door, taking the bags. "Wash up and help me make dinner."

She nodded and padded off to her room to change and drop off her bag. A few minutes later she was in the kitchen with her mother, peeling carrots and potatoes.

"Ten-chan," her mother began. "About your club activities."

"I'm not changing my mind, mother," she replied swiftly. "I like being in judo."

"It was fine in junior high, it was pushing it in high school, but you're a young woman now! You need to start thinking of your future, who you're going to marry."

"Ten get married?" one of her brother entered the kitchen and snorted. "Yeah right, no one would marry this gorilla."

"Shut up," she hissed and violently began peeling again.

"Look at her mom, she loses her temper easily, doesn't have a cute bone in her body," he continued. "Really, she might as well have been born a man."

She felt the tears well up and burn in her throat. She tossed down the vegetables with a hard slam, and stormed out of the kitchen, ignoring her mother's calls. How dare he? She didn't care if he was just teasing, it had gone too far. She grabbed her wallet and phone before pulling on her running shoes. She just wanted to get out of the house.

She wasn't feminine enough to be a girl, but she wasn't manly enough to be one of the boys. She didn't understand why people wouldn't just let her be who she wanted to be? She had already exited the grounds and made her way down the path to the old shrine. It wasn't fair, she thought, it wasn't fair that people threw their expectations at her. She wasn't almighty, or all powerful. She was just her. And it was never enough. She reached the top of the steps and sat at the old shrine, head in her hands. She heard her phone ring and flipped it open (she was expecting to see her mother or brother calling and was ready to hang up) and saw a box blinking across the screen: _One new message._

_Who are you?_

* * *

The woman sat at her desk, hands folded under her chin as she stared at the computer screen. Multiple files were open and she read over each one carefully for the umpteenth time.

"Tsunade-sama?" Shizune asked.

The woman didn't look up, but merely grunted in acknowledgement.

"The messages have been sent," her assistant said. "We're waiting for the replies now."

"Good," she replied, leaning back into her chair. She was so glad she decided to have a custom order made. It was worth the extra money. "Have you notified the others?"

"Three of them are coming back to base as we speak," the dark haired woman replied. "The other two are still caught up in missions."

"It'll do for now," her boss replied. "Set up the meeting place. We should be hearing back from them soon."

Shizune bowed, but answered hesitantly. "How can you be so sure?"

Tsunade grinned and swirled to face the window. "I just am."


	2. Chapter 2

Hi guys, so I started working on the next chapter instead of my online exam. Whoops. To clear a couple of things up:

-TenTen has brothers. I'm going to say like four for this story.

-They're all twenty. University age, and fully functioning adults with part time jobs and enrolled in university.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed, read, favorited, and watched this story. It means the world to me. And thank you for all my faithful readers for sticking by me. I love you all.

* * *

_Alis Volat Propriis_

_They fly with their own wings_

_-Latin  
_

S I N G

By

WeHoldTheseTruths

* * *

He stared up at the huge skyscraper, albeit skeptically. The mysterious message had been intriguing enough and he didn't know why he'd felt so inclined to answer it. But, in the end he did. A few minutes later he received another message indicating that he meet at this time and place, a week from that day. So here he was, preparing to meet whoever had gotten his number and sent him that weird message. He was dressed casually. No one ever said he had to dress to impress. Though judging from the address he should have guess he'd have to. Keh, he scoffed and began walking toward the huge revolving doors, whatever it was all so troublesome anyway.

"Hello sir, can I help you?" the receptionist asked as he approached the front desk. He pulled out his phone and showed her the third message he'd received and was instructed not to open until he got to the hotel. She read it quickly and smiled up at him pleasantly. "Right this way sir, let me show you to the elevator."

Elevator? What kind of person gets shown to the elevator? Better yet, what kind of person can afford to get a private room with an elevator entrance in a place like this? He followed her and waited as she pressed the up button on the side. Almost immediately, the doors dinged to reveal a lift operator who smiled. The receptionist leaned in quickly and whispered something to the operator who nodded and looked at the young man. "Right this way sir, I'll take you right up to the conference area," the operator smiled.

The man only nodded, stepping inside as the receptionist bowed. She stayed that way until the doors closed and the lift began to move. He really didn't understand what was happening, and the operator said nothing as they went up 4 then 6 floors.

"How far are we going?" he asked after they passed the 9th floor.

"To the top, sir," the operator replied. "Penthouse suite"

"Whose up there?"

The operator just smiled and continued staring at the control panel. Okay, he thought, they're discreet so it's either the prime minister or mafia boss. A couple of minutes later, the elevator dinged one last time, signaling they'd reached the top floor.

"Just go straight down the hallway and to the left. You'll see the double doors. Knock twice and someone will come and answer it," the operator said as he held the doors open.

The young man nodded. "Thanks."

"It's my pleasure, sir," the operator smiled and bowed, like the receptionist he didn't leave until the young man was out of sight.

Per instruction, he followed the long hallway down until he had the option of turning left and was almost immediately confronted by two huge oak doors. He knocked twice and waited. A moment later the doors opened, revealing someone in a black suit.

"This way," the suit said. "They're waiting for you in the conference room." He gestured toward the next set of doors.

The man walked in, eying everything. He made sure to memorize all other escape routes, anything he could use as a weapon just in case, and how many visible body guards there were. He assumed there would be more inside. He entered the conference room, which was behind another great oak door, expecting to see a group of suits surrounding a lone figure sitting. He was proven wrong, and instead was greeted by a rag tag group of people about his age, facing three others.

"Hello," the pretty blonde smiled from across the room. She stood and walked over to him. "Come in, come in! Don't worry, you aren't late. We're still waiting for Tsunade-sama to get here. Take a seat! We're all just getting acquainted." She ushered him into one of the comfy love seats and returned to the love seat she was sharing with another pretty girl. "My name is Yamanaka Ino and these are my associates, Hyuuga Hinata," she motioned to the girl beside her. "And Hyuuga Neji." She pointed to the man with long hair standing by the window. "We're sort of like your liaisons for today."

"Nara Shikamaru," he said uncertainly. Now that he had a closer look at the five other people in the room he became even more confused than before. It was hard to confuse him; he was damn genius for crying out loud. None of them held the same air as the three in front of them did. They just looked as confused as he did.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Ino smiled politely. "Why don't we introduce ourselves again? Since Shikamaru just got here."

"Uzumaki Naruto, nice to you," the other blonde (a male) said beside him. He was standing against the wall, looking more confused and irritated than anything else. "We've been waiting here for an hour already."

"Patience," Ino tutted gently. "Tsunade is notorious for being late, but her assistant said they're about ten minutes from here."

"Saitoshi TenTen," the brunette with hair buns peeped. Her hair reminded him of a panda. "It's a pleasure."

He nodded in acknowledgement.

"Inuzuka Kiba," the next one closest to him. He was sitting next to him and offered his hand. "Nice to meet you."

Shikamaru shook it and mumbled his greetings in return.

All eyes turned to the last girl in the room. Her hair was up in a cap, and her eyes hidden behind thick glasses. "Haruno Sakura," she muttered and stayed quiet after that.

"Good, I'm glad we all know each other now," Ino clapped her hands together happily. This girl was just a little bundle of sunshine.

"Can you at least tell us what we're doing here, if we have to wait longer?" Naruto asked, sounding exasperated.

"He's right, we've been here for a while and we deserve some answers," TenTen agreed, crossing her arms. "We don't even know who called us here or why."

Ino opened her mouth to answer when the door slammed open.

"I called you here," a strong feminine voice replied. "My name is Tsunade, it's a pleasure, I'm sure." A busty blonde woman (who could almost pass as Ino's mother if it weren't for the eyes) strode to the front of the room, trailed by a brunette women (whom he assumed was the assistant) carrying a pig (why a pig of all animals). "Ino, Hinata, Neji, thank you for coming back on such short notice."

The three had stood, and bowed deeply. "Of course Tsunade-sama," they said together. Ino and Hinata moved to stand behind the love seat they were previously seated on and the older blonde plopped down onto it.

"I called you here, because I have a proposition for all of you," she cut straight to the chase. "We've been watching you for some time."

"Yeah, that's not creepy," Kiba snorted under his breath.

She gave him a sharp look and continued. "Like I said, we've been watching you because we know who you all are." When her statement took no visible effect she leaned in closer, drawing her chin to rest in her hands. "Or more accurately, what you all are." The tension shot up in the room, and silent panic swept through them. Shikamaru could probably speak for everyone when the words 'WHAT THE FUCK' ran through his head. Kiba, beside him, instantly straightened up, tensing as if ready to fight his way out of here. "You can relax, I'm not here to take in you for some kind of government experiment or anything like that. I'd just like to talk."

"Then talk," Naruto said, his voice tight. "We're listening."

"We found you," she leaned back again. "Because your talents are so distinct. Each one of you has been monitored by us since the day your gifts manifested themselves. And now that you're all of age, we believe you're finally in the position to choose whether you wish to join us or not."

"Who is us?" Kiba asked. "You keep saying 'we' and 'us', but no one will fucking explain who you are."

"We are Konoha," Tsunade answered easily.

Konoha, the name sounded familiar. Shikamaru's mind took him back into his father's journals from when he worked for the government. Konoha was mentioned a few times along with two names. He was struggling to remember now, it had been so long ago when he'd read them.

"Konoha?" TenTen echoed in confusion.

"Yes," Tsunade replied. "We are a secret faction of the government under the guise of the Ministry of Environmentalism."

The names, they were on the tip of his tongue. He closed his eyes, attempting to visualize the pages he'd flipped through. The names sprawled in his father's messy writing.

"Yamanaka and Akimichi," he said out loud. The whole room looked at him. But, he remembered now. "My father wrote about Konoha in his journals. And the Yamanaka and Akimichi families," he explained. "You're Japan's secret army. An army of biological weapons."

"That's one way of putting it," Tsunade mused. "But, we're not weapons. We're people just like everyone else. Just, different."

"Biological weapons?" Sakura repeated.

"The fact that we are a secret is true yes," Tsunade continued. "But to the public. There are other nations that we are allied with. They have departments just like ours."

"It doesn't justify what you do," Shikamaru replied. "I read my father's notes; you kill people for a living."

"Your father is right," Ino cut in before her boss could. "But, you would kill them too, if you knew what they did to people like us. And innocent people who have nothing to do with us." Her look had done a one eighty. Her once sky blue eyes turned a stormy grey.

"What Ino means," Tsunade clarified. "Is that the few assassinations that are executed by us are against targets that threaten not only people like us, but innocents who are abducted and used in human experimentation. Death is an extremely penalty, and only used when there is no other choice."

Shikamaru sat back in his chair. He remembered reading his father's notes. They weren't very detailed, in fact they were sparse at most, but he could tell it pained his father to write what he did. As if every word was a little piece of him that he'd lost. He couldn't trust someone who could justify killing. No matter what the reason.

"I think I can speak for everyone when I saw we're out," Kiba said as he stood to walk out. "I'm not killing anyone. And sure as hell won't be some government dog."

There was a collective nod as they prepared to leave. It was the quiet Hinata who stopped them from moving another inch. "You wouldn't be killing anyone," her soft voice was almost drowned out by the rustling of fabric. "We save lives. That's what Konoha is." She was looking down as she spoke.

"Shikamaru here," Kiba gestured to him. "and Ino, just said that's what you do."

"And Tsunade said that we hardly ever resort to such measures," Ino retorted.

"The ANBU is in charge of those missions," Hinata continued. "Our role is to simply carry out missions that involve saving lives. Gathering intel, breaking up human trafficking operations, tracking down criminals, sending them to jail. We're like a secret police for people like us. There isn't anyone else who could do this job."

"Why us?" Naruto asked after a long moment. "You have a whole army ready. Why do you need us?"

"You're all special, even among us, your powers are invaluable. And we would like to offer you an environment in which you can use them freely, for a good cause," Shizune spoke. "Konoha is the one place where you can be yourself and not fear the side effects that may come with it."

Silence drifted across the room. They had a point. Shikamaru never felt quite like himself, despite the fact he hardly ever used his powers. Not say he couldn't, because he could. It was just a bigger burden to conceal them than it was to use them. It felt like a part of him was hiding from the rest of the world. And he wanted to be whole. He could tell that the others felt the same way. It was an inner battle. His parents always warned him that if his powers were ever used in public, all hell would break loose. _Never, Shikamaru. Never use your powers in front of someone. Do you understand? If you do we'll never see each other again. _Growing up, he'd thought that it was a threat. But, now he understood. Konoha would have taken him away or worse someone less reputable.

"Don't you feel it?" Ino asked after the long silence had taken its toll. "Unsatisfied, hidden, fearful? Don't you wish you were something more? Don't you wish you could feel more whole?" Her voice wasn't the peppy sunshine filled soprano it once was. It dropped, more somber and serious. "You're denying a part of you that you were born with. Your powers shouldn't make you feel ashamed. You shouldn't be afraid to be who you are."

"I don't think we trust you," TenTen replied after a moment. "We need proof, to know you are who you say you are. And then we'll decide."

The rest of the room nodded slowly in agreement. "Troublesome," he muttered.

Tsunade smiled. "Very well then."

* * *

They didn't meet again until a week later. This time, they were sent directions to a tall building in Shinjuku and were instructed to go to the front desk. Once he'd arrived, Shikamaru sluggishly made his way to the receptionist, wondering if he would be shown to another private elevator.

"Hello, how can I help you?" the woman smiled prettily at him.

"I have an appointment," he replied, remembering the instructions from the last message."

"Of course, your name sir?"

"Nara Shikamaru."

She tapped away at her computer and smiled again. "Nara-sama, make your way down the hall and turn right. Someone will be waiting for you at the door at the end of the corridor."

He nodded and set off. The hall way was incredibly long, or at least it was to him. Honestly, walking anymore than 10 feet was exhausting to him. He finally reached the turn and made his way down to the end of the corridor, spotting someone standing next to the door. To his surprise he recognized her, Yamanaka Ino from the week before.

"Hello again, Shikamaru," she smiled as he approached. "It's nice to see you."

"Hi," he replied as he stopped in front of her. "So where are we going this time? Secret underground facility?"

Her smile grew to a wicked grin. "Good guess, let's get down there shall we? Everyone else is waiting."

His eyes widened slightly as the door slid open, revealing what was indeed another elevator shaft. She stepped in lightly, and he followed.

He watched as the elevator went down several stories, until they reached level B7. Ino stepped out and motioned for him to follow. "You can't enter this building until you've been given prior consent," she explained as they went down a long hall way, passing people who seemed to completely ignore their presence. "From the moment you walk in, you passed through a barrier which monitors chakra signatures and also went through various other scans and facial recognition processes. So if you choose not to accept, you'll never be able to walk in here again."

"Noted," he muttered. This place was something out of an anime or comic book. It reminded him of weird combination of the Danger Room, Watch Tower, and a Gundam hanger.

It was all sleek steel and high tech toys. _A nerd's paradise_, he thought in amusement. He wondered vaguely how difficult it would be to hack into the system mainframe. A smirk crept onto his face. It would be fun to see how much havoc he could reek.

"Don't even think about it," Ino said suddenly. "Hacking into Konoha is considered treason. You'll be locked up immediately."

He gave her a look. "I wasn't-"

"You'll learn," she cut in. "To better guard your thoughts in training." She glanced back at him."But knowing your family, they taught you how, you just never took it seriously."

He stared at her with a mixture of horror and awe. A psychic, he should have known. It was unsettling that she knew something of his family, when he knew nothing about her. He shifted uncomfortably, shifting through his childhood memories in an attempt to remember what his father had said.

_When guarding your mind, you need to imagine your mind has steel enforced walls around them. As if you're activating emergency protocols. _He had said. _Slam down the walls hard, force them out. All they need is one little crack to slip in. And once they do, it's over._

Shikamaru had a sinking feeling that even if he did this, Ino would be able to break down those walls with relative ease. In this setting, outside of fancy penthouses and stylish pantsuits, she seemed dangerous. Even in her purple training gear, she had an aura of danger about her.

"We're here," she said as a large sliding door opened.

They stepped into a huge steel enforced room, with a large viewing panel in the floor above.

"This is the Danger Room," he said in awe.

"Close, but no cigar," Ino laughed I like to think that our training facility is a bit better."

She led him to the group who was already gathered in the center. Hinata and Neji were standing together, talking quietly.

"Okay!" Ino said, clapping her hands loudly. "Hinata will lead you guys up to the tower and Tsunade-sama will meet you all up there." She motioned for Hinata to go. "We'll see you all in a little bit."

Hinata smiled and gestured for them to follow. On the other side of the room, another door slid open to reveal a set of stairs, which lead them into the control tower.

"You may go back Hinata," Tsunade said as they entered. The fearsome blonde was with four other people: another women and three men.

Hinata bowed and left. Shikamaru eyed the other people in the room wearily. He wasn't sure what to think. "Why are we here?" he asked after a moment of silence.

"You wanted proof we do what we say we do," she replied. "I'm going to give you that." She smiled. "These are four of our jounin sensei. Kurenai," she motioned to the woman. "Asuma, Gai, and Kakashi." The three men straightened slightly, with the exception of the silver haired one, Kakashi. "If you choose to stay with us, they will be training you."

"Okay," TenTen began. "What do they have to do with our proof?"

"They trained Ino, Hinata, and Neji," Tsunade replied. "To reveal one's gifts, to show someone how they work, what their vulnerabilities are, to see them at their full extent, you all understand the degree of trust that one must have to do this, don't you?

There was a collective murmur of agreement. To show your powers and give someone complete understanding was like revealing a part of your soul. It could given someone a total advantage over you.

"Those three will demonstrate their powers for you today," Tsunade continued. "And by the time you leave, there will be nothing you won't know about us."

* * *

Oh, cliffhanger! Kind of. It just seemed like a good place to cut off.


End file.
